Hiatus Restarted, Then Terminated Again

God, finally. This page took just under 7 minutes to load up. Anyway. Travels are still good. Don;t worry if have been. I've officially been certified as an Advanced diver and an Enriched air diver. I'm more than pleased with this. The enriched air gives me more bottom time with less decompression time which is a dream for divers. Usually you stay down at 20 m for, say 20 minutes then gradually surface and at the end of your dive you stop at 5 m for 5 minutes for decompression. Now i can stay at 20 m for around 35-40 minutes and only have around 3 minutes deco time. It's a dream for divers; trust me. Speaking of diving, it's been an absolute dream here. The visibility on a bad day is still around 20 metres. We've seen loads of marine life including entire schools of barracuda, dozens of sea turtles, and of course la piece de resistance, that whale shark; which people still talk about.
I was told I look like Jesus today, and I'm still not sure whether to take it as an insult or compliment.
The weather has been fair lately. It's rained off and on for the past two days, but it stops suddenly and then the sun comes out. Today was more a gloomy day. Sunny in the morning, but at around noon the sky turned dark and the water turned rough. I've booked all my flights and everything. Organizing! A Kai Michaluk first. I head for Vietnam on the 23rd to see Jenn which I'm absolutely pumped for. Apparently they've recently opened up a skating rink in Ho Chi Minh, so we may take a visit. It's obligatory that I have skill skating since my country of residence is Canada. That is all the update I have. I'll post a another update as soon as things happen to me. Until then.

Kai Michaluk signing off

Now to wait while the pictures load. it's 7:59 now.
Aaaaand now the internet shut off for the night at my bungalow. So it's an evening excursion for myself down the beach to the restaurant that has working internet.
And so, my blog post ends at 8:17

pic is pat and i and our driver on a motorcycle heheh. I've seen 5 people on these so don't worry.

Hiatus Terminated

Sorry about the hiatus as of late. We arrived in the Philippines 3 days ago (?) and it's been spectacular. The weather is nice, people are nice and the diving is phenomenal. I've done 4 dives now since being here, and one of them I actually spotted a whale shark! It was crazy. Just seeing this thing the size of a bus loom past you. I immediately told everyone in the group about it and we all oggled it for a bit until we resurfaced. It wasn't until we resurfaced that I just witnessed one of the rarest spectacles of diving. *Everyone* was raving about this whale shark siting. So that was neat. Nothing too special the next times. The bungalow is quaint. Nothing spectacular. It's in a nice location with a bar and restaurant 30 steps away. I booked my flights to Vietnam to visit Jenn last night. I leave on the 22nd. I can't wait. It's going to be such a blast. More to come as things happen. Pictures tonight sometime.

it's my last night in Ton Sai! gah! the time has been spectacular here. The people, the beach, the 'feel'. Absolutely astounding. Jenn being here was the best. Jenn's friends were all a blast too. Finally getting to see her after so long was a dream. Tomorrow we take a bus to Hat Yai by bus (air con = yes) for 4 hours or something. I'll be sure to charge the ol' iPhone for it. After Hat Yai, we're off to Kualah Lumpur then to another place I can't remember in the Phillipines. We'll stay there for a bit, do some diving, beach, the usual. Then Novmeber 20th-ish I should head off to Vietnam to see Jenn yet again. I can't wait. It should be a blast

hey look pictures

guhhh, "Image uploads will be disabled for two hours due to maintenance at 5:00PM PDT Wednesday, Oct. 20th" thanks a lot blogger. I HAD some pictures to upload but i guess they'll have to wait for tomorrow...

Guhhhh

it was a rest day today in Ton Soi. Riveting. We planned on going rock climbing again, but the rain ruined our plans. The rain here is ridiculous. It will rain for like half an hour or an hour and then stop for half an hour then start again. It's just long enough to make you think 'oh, it's going to rain today. Looks like I can't do anything.' then it will stop and you think 'oh great now I can do things' but it just starts again. guh. The worst. It was a super lazy day, but I somehow feel like I did a lot of things. I'm exhausted. All this nothing takes a toll on people. All I did was play guitar all day on a hammock. Day well spent in my books.

Love your starting-to-look-like-a-hippy,
Kai

extreeeeeeeeeeeeme

Day 5 in Ton Soi! I love it here. It's like a backpackers dream. Everyone is amazingly friendly, food and rooms are cheap, and the bars are open late. What else could I ask for? I've discovered rock climbing here! It's surprisingly addicting. Climbed all day today and yesterday. My arms are basically like rubber now. I can't even like unscrew a water bottle lid. The weather is phenomenal. Well, kind of. I mean rain at least once a day. But I'd take rain and plus 30 weather over no rain and minus 30 weather. Pictures attached.

love your adrenajunkie,
Kai

Another Dive Day

Yet another dive day in Koh Phi Phi. Only two dives today which puts my total to 9 dives whilst being here. It was a spectacular dive day though. We did a wall dive which is where you just swim beside a wall of coral for the dive. Lots of crazy marine life. I finally saw a sea turtle! That was pretty neat. We all just stopped and watched it for a good 5 minutes as it ate some plants underwater. Lots of clown fish which I also stopped and observed for a good while. Cuddle fish, scorpion fish, Lion fish. Excellent day for seeing things. Yet to see any sort of shark though. The boat was suuupperr tipsy today because of some winds that stirred up the water. The result was me nearly losing the contents of my stomach. Luckily, I narrowly avoided it. While I was upstairs on the boat, a wave had apparently hit the boat and a bunch of water got in and gushed out along with one of my shoes. So i had to buy new ones. Kind of a chore. But now I have Diesel flip flops so S'all good. Tomorrow is my birthday! crraazzzyyy. It's kind of pointless because I can go here and buy beer or cigarettes or anything here whenever I wanted to and they wouldn't look twice. I plan to sleep in, then who knows. Riveting. *Finally* brought my card to share some photos, so enjoy. Updates probably tomorrow.

Love your future birthday boy,
Kai

Crazy Lazy

Another crazy lazy day in Phi Phi. I'm kind of struck for things to say because I slept until 11:30, then went to the beach, then lunch, then beach, then bungalow, then supper, and here we are. So yeah. It was spectacular weather today. 34 degrees out with sun glistening at every moment. A nice subtle breeze to keep you cool made it perfection. Tomorrow is another dive day which will put me at a total of 9 dives since getting here. I need 50 logged dives if I ever want to take my Dive Master course. Yet again I've forgotten to bring my card with me. So everyone will have to eagerly wait until tomorrow to see all the pics.

Love your local beach venturer,
Kai

'Pee Pee' heh heh

In Phi Phi Don! The ferry ride from Phuket was great; I slept the whole thing. Apparently about half the ferry was throwing up due to sea sickness. I would have probably been apart of this trend, but my state of consciousness prevented it. I win. There was this one guy, he was just looking rough hahaha. He was like drenched in sweat, and just looking at the floor. You knew there was a battle of grand proportions going on inside him. It's absolutely gorgeous scenery everywhere you look here. White sand beaches, lime stone cliff faces, calm water and beach bungalows from one end to the next. We took another diving trip yesterday and today. It was also spectacular. Lots of marine life. Only about 100% more than in freshwater diving. Barracuda, groupers, blow fish, clown fish, morays, to name a few. The water here is phenomenally warm. Anywhere from 29 to 32 degrees Celsius. It's like taking a bath everywhere. We also did a wreck dive today. That was really interesting. It was a king cruiser car ferry that had sank a few years back. Nothing too spectacular, but my first wreck dive none the less. I was kind of weary going inside it at first, but once you gain your buoyancy, it's a snap. The only thing you nee to look out for is brushing up against one of the thousands of sea urchins. They're spectacular to observe, but give a nasty surprise if you so happen to come in contact. I've learned I'm obsessed with clown fish. I can't get enough of them. I'll see one and just watch it for minutes. They have this breathtaking vivid orange on them. I love it haha. Tomorrow is a rest day, so I'll be lazing around Phi Phi going from restaurant to restaurant. And oh hey look, its my birthday in 3 days. Where did the time go. Soon I won't be able to fight minors without getting charged. Dang. I don't have my camera with me thus i can't upload pictures today. Sorry. Expect some tomorrow though.

Strings may be hard to find...

Still in Phuket. Sorry for the delayed updates. I've been very lazy what with the extreme heat here. It's been wonderful up to today here. It rained all day. Guh. So I spent all day indoors. Oh well, it was nice to get caught up with whats the new on the ol' internet. Had my first dive in a while on sunday. That was a dream. Didn't see much, but it was nice to get my head wet. Oh look, it's raining again outside again. Yesterday was a beach day. The beach here is spectacular. The sand is smooth, and the water has around 6 foot waves. We stayed there the entire day, and I applied copious amounts of sunblock to myself to avoid any further dicomfort through out our trip. Soooooo itchy now... Tomorrow we leave for an island called Phi Phi. hahahah what a name. It's pronounced like Pee Pee. the ferry is around 3 hours and it leaves at 7 am >:( gah. waking up early: not my forte. So, I bought a guitar for 20 odd dollars. It's a cheap acoustic I bought from the Dutch owner of the hotel we're staying at. I'll hock it when I leave, or maybe i'll be too attached to it. We shall see. That's all for now. Updates coming the next time I have internet.

Love your snow white sun bather,
Kai

It's pronounced 'Poo-ket'

In Phuket now! It's the town where the name isn't pronounced like it's spelled. It's blistering hot here. Luckily we booked a room with A/C in it. Thank the lord. When you open the door, it's like being hit by a brick wall with humidity. You immediately get this sticky-semi wet residue on your skin. ughhghh. I do not like it. Fortunately the beach is a brisk stroll away if you want to go for a dip or soak up some sun. The water is an excellent 30 degrees but there are these enormous waves that pound you into the ground if you so happen to go in the water. It gets a little annoying and tiring after a bit, but good overall. Tomorrow is diving!! Can't wait. I could do without the 'leaving at 8 am' portion. I ended up falling asleep in the sun today at the beach, but somehow turned onto my side. So now i have like a red left shoulder and thigh. How attractive. I also noticed that the sand from the 'white sand beaches of Phuket' is darker than the skin on my legs. That's not embarrassing. Anywho, time for bed because I'm burning the midnight oil being up at quarter to 11; and this guy that fell asleep in the bed beside me keeps half awakingly angrily mumbling at me.

love your Kailand in Thailand,
Kai


ps no pictures because it was overcast today :s

A Letter from Khoa San

Here we are in Bangkok. It's (in my opinion) much better than the quiet slow villages we've been to and through in the last month. I've been longing for some extravagance. There are lights everywhere, vendors left and right. So good. They have such good street vendor food too. Banana pancakes and pad thai everywhere. I may or may not go get some after I'm done writing this. You cant throw a stick in the street without hitting some sort of knock off merch; which I also love. We took a trip to the Grand Palace today. It's this enormous square with golden buildings with exquisite detail where the king of Thailand lives. It was also a tourist trap haha. We took a tuk-tuk to get there which are the local taxis. They're basically a golf car with four seats that can go 50 km/hr. Needless to say, I'd like to get one.We're taking a night bus tomorrow for Phuket; where a sandy beach with crystal clear water awaits me. I can't wait to get some diving done as well. Internet here is the best I've tried in Asia so far. Nearly like home. I'm quite impressed. That's all for now. Updates as soon as I get more internet.

Sincerely your sports racer,
Kai

ps, Image of mountains is Everest when we flew from Kathmandu to Bangkok (it's the middle one)

One night in Bangkok

Back in Kahtmandu now. I had forgotten how bustling and hectic the streets were here. I was rudely reminded the minute we got out of the bus. Ugh the bus. Road hell. Nearly 7 hours of constant bumps and and zero leg room. My knees will have bruises in the morning for sure. We leave for Bangkok tomorrow morning though. Waking up at 6 a.m. has become some what of a constant on this trip; but I don't think I'll ever get use to it. It should be an 'interesting' flight. We booked with "Royal Nepal Airlines" who has a reputation of booking tickets for people to a non existent flight. How fun would that be. I'm particularly excited about Bangkok though. I can't wait for all the knock off merch haha. Apparently there is an abundance of internet in Thailand that is supposed to be 'faster' what ever that is. Kathmandu internet is a dream compared to Pokhara. Since finishing my trek, I've rediscovered reading. For those of you not savvy with the term, it's that thing you do with books and words and such. After Bangkok, we plan to head south and either visit Phuket or Krabi for some diving. I can't wait to get to a beach. Just to dip my feet into some water. But for now, I'm lying on a bed in the Blue Horizons Hotel in Thamel, Kathmandu; which will have to do. I'll post more as things happen to me

Your super pal,
Kai

Updates??

HEY! Look who's finally posting on this blog again. The trek was amazing!! I couldn't believe it. I experienced every season in the last two weeks. Starting in Bhule Bhule, it was hot and humid summer weather; feeling more like a jungle. As we continued up the trek, it slowly got dryer and started feeling like fall. Leaves were changing colour in some areas, and a breeze would make for wearing your fleece. Finally we got to a village called Yak Kharka and it was winter time. There was a wet snow on the ground and you needed a few layers to keep warm. What a wonderful hotel that was. It was raining all day and of course we stayed in the top floor of the guest house, but we ere rudely awoken in the night to the sounds of drips. Well, I wasn't. I probably would have slept through a flood. But we moved all our gear to the grounds rooms and finally got back to sleep. We complained about the incident in the morning and got the room for free. A whole 3 dollars was saved hahaha. We made it to the pass finally and it was spectacular. Snow on the ground, and a slight wind made for a clear day with full mountain and sun views. A total of 5416 meters above sea level or 18,000 feet. I wasn't low. We continued walking down the trek, which was all of sudden more tiresome. Something about reaching the pass drains every ounce of energy from you. Back in Pokhara again, sipping beer in 32 degrees weather. We booked our tickets to Bangkok for the 29th, so we should leave back for Kathmandu in 2 days. More posts to come as soon as interesting things happen to me.

Your partner in crime,
Kai

Still in Pokhara

So apparently, we don't leave for the trek today. Which I'm actually relieved about, since i have one more day connected with the world. Spent the day in Pokhara walking around from restaurant to restaurant. It was a sweltering 32 degrees celsius. How was dauphin? heh. I finally manned up and got a straight shave today. Best thing I've done in my life. I don't think I'll ever shave regularly again. It was exhillerating. Nothing else really to report. We booked our bus tickets to the village we stay in before starting the hike which we leave for at 6 am tomorrow. ugh. whyyyyyy. We also payed our sherpa for the trek today which was a heaping 11,000 rupees. or 140 dollars. haha. Took a couple pictures today, but i don't think I'll be able to post them. The bandwidth here is so slow. I can barely chat without it trying to catch up every 30 seconds. I'll try and get more posts in, but no promises though. Trek should take 17-20 days. So send a search party if don't hear from me. really.
Best regards,
Your technology deprived traveler,
Kai

I think I'm going slightly mad

Made it into Pokhara about an hour ago after an 8 hour, bumpy bus ride. so good. The views were absolutely spectacular coming here though. Seeing the snow capped Himalayas in the distance was pretty astounding. Checked into our guest house in Pokhara, the Rustika, and low and behold, there's no internet. Seems like the only place in the city without it. Ridiculous. I'm really hoping there's some signals along this trek I;m about to start tomorrow. This trip has already enlghtened me that the next vacation I take should always have me connected in some way. I think I'll go crazy if there's no internet actually. So yeah, we start the annapurna circuit tomorrow. We start off taking a bus to another little town, and then start the circuit. We get into the colder weather about 3 days into the trek, which I'm actually looking forward to. This hot, muggy, sticky sweat inducing weather is nice in moderation, but overall not my cup of tea. It'll be a nice change to have a nice cool, dry breeze. So now we're at The Moondance, a restaurant semi-near our guest house talking to an autralian hippie named Jack about politics, the weather, and hair. what. Updates will irregular now, since i dont know where I'll be able to.
Your mountaineering updater,
Kai

Ps, the title is a Queen song, I thought it was suiting.
pps Pictures are from yesterday since i have a decent signal right now.

Pokhara? I barely know hara.

Last day in the Kat. Started the day off with breakfast at the guest house. Lemon sugar pancakes for myself. We headed to Dunbar square which is a historic site There's a museum there as well, but of course it was closed the one day we went. So we looked around and took some photos before leaving for the Boudha, which is the largest Buddhist shrine in Nepal. at like 43 metres tall? I think? We stayed there for an hour or so. Then we headed back to Themal (the street we're staying on) for a little shopping. I bartered some trekking poles from 1000 to 650. heh. so good. Then we went back to the guest house. Exhausted. I fell asleep at like 8 pm, and woke up in a daze at around 9:45. Tomorrow we leave for Pokhara at like 7 am. We're taking a bus and it's around 6 hours give or take. It's going to be terrible but I'll just listen to music and sleep the whole way. ha. The internet is especially slow today because of a storm that's happening outside right now so no pictures. Hopefully there's internet in Pokhara. I'll update then if there is.

Kai

Hamburgers?!

Day 2 in Kathmandu. It rhymes. deal with it. Preetty hot day today even with overcast. I'd say around 30 or so. We took a trip down to this holy river site where they do all the cremations when people die. The ritual is when someone dies, they have to cremate them the same day. So we seen around 5 or 6 cremations in the hour we were there. Insane. The temples surrounding the area were stunning. After that, we took a break and went for a beer down to 'The New Orleans'. I also had a cheeseburger which I was astounded I could order. The bun was a little stale, but hey. what can you do right. After our lunch, we taxi'd it to an enormous Buddhist temple known more commonly as "The Monkey Temple" because of the large number of monkeys that reside around it. That was neat. I bought some prayers flags for home that i bartered for. haha that's the thing you have to do here the most; barter. It's pretty fun actually. You get used to it pretty quickly. You get in a cab, and ask how much to your destination, the guy will say something like "300 rupees" and then you act all shocked like "what?! nononono, that's too much, 50 rupees". Then he'll decline your offer, in which you pretend to exit the cab so he thinks he's losing a sale, then he'll offer like 150 or something. So fun. TRY IT NEXT TIME YOU'RE AT COOP OR SOMETHING. Pictures above from the day. enjoy.

Kai

Finally in Kathmandu

Just just got into Nepal. Took our taxi from the airport after being greeted by someone with a sign that said "KAI". The flight was gorgeous. We flew with an airliner called "Kingfisher Airlines". All their Stewardesses wore matching uniforms and they started the flight off with a face wipe and bottle of water for you. Feet are aching for some reason today. It's like an inside kind of pain too. gah. Oh well. I have a couple days before we start the actual trek. We start it on the 10th apparently. Which means we'll leave Kathmandu around the 7th and bus it to a city named Pokhara where we'll stay until the trek. So now I'm in the Red Planet Guest House, and its actually not too bad. I'll make another post some time later. or maybe tomorrow. I don't know. I'll see how i feel. Pictures after the jump.

Nepal Bound!

Day one of being in India. Unless you count last night. It's a muggy, hot day in New Delhi. We landed last night around 9:30 pm new delhi time. And the time difference is 10 hours and 30 minutes. so figure it out. I'm not a mathematician. Had a nice Indian breakfast this morning consisting of eggs, hash brown, and toast. So western of me. We leave for Nepal today at 1:30 delhi time, and get into Kathmandu at 4 or so. Flights were all good. I think i had the most turbulent flight of my life from Chicago to Newark though. Talking to Laressa at the moment, so I'm a little side tracked. I'll update again if i get internet in our hotel in Kathmandu. The Red Planet Hotel. look it up! or don't. I'm not your dad.

Excellent

What a way to start the ol' trip off. So we get to the airport right? And we casually stroll up to the counter to check in as one usually would. But you wouldn't believe the message we get. Apparently, we're told from them, that we missed our flight. Wait. What? Our itinerary, says that our flight isn't for another 2 hours. Nope we missed it. Expedia made a mistake. Hurray.
So now we need to find some other way to get from one side of the planet to the other. We decide tomorrow is our only alternative. So I'll be sleeping in Winnicrap for the night. I'm not too happy how things turned out, but such is life. Updates will be irregular.

-Kai